MEETING WITH THE BOER-AFRIKANER VOLKSRAAD TO DISCUSS SELF-DETERMINATION FOR THE AFRIKANER

Firstly I apologise for not addressing this letter directly to your offices. After searching the internet, I could not find a suitable contact address for mail to be delivered to, and thus made use of the Facebook facility to inbox this letter to one of your members, namely Mr. Abel Malan, for delivery thereof.

With reference to the up-coming talks between the Office of the South African President, the honourable J.Zuma; and the Boer-Afrikaner Volksraad with regards to talks on self-determination for the Afrikaners and the Boers, I wish to express my feelings as I am of Boer stock.

I fully support any call for self-determination of any group of people as it could be to their benefit to be grounded to their ethnical and cultural roots. A positive identity builds a self-confident and productive nation. I am sure that all aspects of such a shift in control of power would be carefully considered by all parties involved, and what I wish to lay out may already have been planned for the table. Therefore, I apologise up front if the following is superfluous, but kindly hear me out. The word ‘Afrikaner’ has to be considered in depth if we are to know who the people are concerned with this matter. So, too, the word ‘Boer’ as a nation, rather than merely an occupation. From my analysis, the call for talks is to discuss territory which could be set aside for the sole use of the Afrikaners governed by a democratic system. Firstly, the word ‘Afrikaner’ may be misconstrued. The first group of people who were named Afrikaners during the 1700’s were from the KhoiSan forefather Oude Ram Afrikaner (born during the 1690’s in the Tulbagh district). After the land of David Afrikaner, then known as `tLand van Waveren’, was taken away from him by the Cape governor and given to White Colonialists, who renamed the area Tulbagh, the Afrikaner clan moved to the Hantam area, where their land was again taken away from them which forced them to work for the Pienaar family. Both David Afrikaner and his son, Jager Afrikaner, became consigned labourers of the farmer Pieter Pienaar on Hantam, in the Calvinia district. According to family tales retold, Mr. Pienaar was a quick tempered person, which led to the revolt of the Afrikaners. After a carefully planned plot, they murdered the Pienaar family and fled northwards, taking along with them everything they could transport. Because the farms were so far apart at that time, it took many days before the neighbouring farmers discovered the massacre. By that time the fleeing Afrikaners were well on their way to Gariep (the Orange River) where they stayed for a long time in the Pella area with other clans before they continued northwards across the Gariep. On their way through southern Namibia, they came across various other KhoiSan and non-KhoiSan clans. The Afrikaners finally settled in a valley which Jager Afrikaner named ‘Klein Winterhoek’ in remembrance of the Winterhoek Valley in Tulbagh where he had been born and had grown up. Winterhoek later became known as “Windhoek” due to mispronunciations. During the first half of the 1800’s, Jan Jonker Afrikaner, the son of Jager Afrikaner, governed the central areas of Nambia as captain of his clan. This Afrikaner clan expanded and still exists. Their rich history cannot be ignored.

At the time that the KhoiSan and other ‘Coloureds” in the Cape area became known as Afrikaners, the whites in southern Africa were known as the Colonials of the Cape Dutch, and the Vryburghers. The Vryburghers had taken their freedom from VOC after they had completed their services, and moved away from the Cape government. They became known as the ‘GrensBoere’ (Border Boers), and the ‘TrekBoere’ (Pioneering Boers).

The first ‘white’ who called himself an “Afrikaner’ was Hendrik Biebouw. His father was German and his sister was Coloured. Biebouw, racing while drunk through Stellenbosch, was pulled off his horse by a Dutch magistrate. While the magistrate was caning him, Biebouw objected, stating: “You can’t hit me, I am an Afrikaner!” Thus Biebouw was deported to Australia, as the law in those days operated concerning offenders.

There was also a time period during the 1800’s when Afrikaners called the new British arrivals at the Cape ‘Afrikaners’, but the English newspaper of Grahamstown denounced the word “Afrikaner’ stating that the word was associated with slaves and that Afrikaans was a bastard language. This sentiment was widely shared with the British who believed that Britain was far superior to Africa.

It was nearly 200 years after Oude Ram Afrikaner was born that some of the white Colonial descendents started calling themselves ‘Afrikaners’ and accepted the bastardised Afrikaans language of the Coloureds as their own. In 1875, under leadership of The Fellowship of Real Afrikaners, and later The Afrikanerbond in 1881, the title of Afrikaner was used in a more official manner to apply to Colonialists. By this time, the Boer nation had already developed and owned two internationally recognized Republics, namely Die Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek (ZAR) and the Oranje Vrystaat (OFS), and their common language was "Die Taal", which had a strong Dutch influence.

During the second half of the 20th Century, white Afrikaner nationalists started using the Afrikaner identity exclusively for white Afrikaners, thus excluding the Coloureds and also denying the Boers their identity by referring to them as Afrikaners. To the best of my understanding, Afrikaner Nationalism and Voortrekker sovereignty is not the same thing. SJ Du Toit who started the standardization of Afrikaans was from the Western Cape and an Anglophile, who had many dealings with Rhodes. He grew increasingly critical of Kruger's policies and supported the ideal of a united South Africa, promoted by Cecil John Rhodes. General Jan Smuts, - who also stemmed from the western Cape, was the most famous and accomplished statesman in South Africa during the first half of the 20th century - was also an ardent admirer and follower of Rhodes. He, along with the Afrikaners of the Cape Colony, shared Rhodes' vision of a political fusion of the country's Afrikaner and English races, and the creation of a united South Africa. In fact, as representative of the Boers during the meeting called by the British to discuss a peace treaty during the second Anglo Boer War, Jan Smuts had strict instructions from the Boers NOT to capitulate, as the Boers were having massive victories in the field, and the British treasury was bankrupt. When he told the Cape Rebels that he had agreed on their behalf that they would surrender, one shouted, "You have betrayed us!" Furthermore, he also said that he could not ensure the Cape Rebels' safety. It had become clear that the ‘white’ Afrikaners supported a Unionized South Africa, despite the costs the Boers suffered by being stripped of their independent Republics.

If now, the Afrikaners are calling for self determination and their own land to carry out their own culture under the entitlement of ‘Afrikaner-Boer’, it should be made clear to all concerned which culture they are referring to, and if they intend to orchestrate a ‘whites only’ area. As there is no official reference to ‘Afrikaner-Boer’ as a nation in South Africa, what with the South African Indians being the latest such nation recognized internationally, I also suggest that application be made for international acceptance of their identity. However, I as a Boer do not embrace the identity of an Afrikaner-Boer nor will I support such a bastardization of my heritage and culture.

Secondly, the Boer culture inherently embraces a Republican system of governance, but the so-called Afrikaner-Boer Volksraad are offering a democratic system, should they be granted self determination. Such a Democratic system centralizes power to a few select, whereas in a Republican system, representatives in government are merely messengers of the people, and cannot make decisions on their behalf unless mandated to do so by the people.

Thirdly, history has proven that in the Boer Republics people of all races, cultures and religions were allowed to live and work alongside the Boers. As a Boer, I am proud of my culture, race and colour; but I do not consider myself superior to any other race. I would not class myself as a racist, as it is commonly understood.

I, personally, am not interested in being subjected to governance by an Afrikaner as much as a Palestinian does not want to be subjected to governance under a Zionist government in the land of his ancestors.

The only, true solution I can see to the land issue in South Africa, is to declare the Union of South Africa in 1910 illegal, and to hand control back to those it belonged to before the Union was finalized. I do not expect any person to be destabilized, but envision dual citizenry where required. But this is my personal view on the matter.

I thank you for your time.

Yours Faithfully

MG PIETERSE

2014: in memory of the Boers fallen in the Battle of Ventersdorp (1991)

On August 9, 1991 in Ventersdorp, western Transvaal, the Boers led by the AWB (Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging) clashed with the police forces of the RSA (Republic of South Africa) Empire and a number of black communist terrorists.During the Battle of Ventersdorp three Boers were killed, all AWB members: A.F. Badenhorst, G.J Koen, and J.D. Conradie.Their sacrifice was not forgotten.

In the book, “The History of the Great Boer Trek and the Origin of the South African Republics”, published in 1899, the authors attempt to provide a record of the peoples of southern Africa and the historical animosity the Boers and English shared for one another.

Although blinded by his patriotism and the English right of empire building and their automatic domain over any nation seen as uncivilised or those who stood in the way of colonialism, he does make a particular effort to record the peoples (nations) of southern Africa.

The authors are Her Majesty’s High Commissioner for Natal, Hon. Henry Cloete (LLD) and his grandson W.B. Cloete – who attempt to enlighten their British countrymen, with whom the Empire is at war with (Anglo-Boer War in 1899). Of utmost importance is his meticulous categorisation of people, namely:• Bushman• Hottentot• Griqua• Kafir (tribes)• Amapondas• Amabaka• Barolong• Matabelee• Mantatee• Zulu• Frenchmen• Germans• Dutchmen• Dutch farmers from the Cape Colony• Saxon farmers• [Old] Romans• British settlers• Scottish immigrants• Boer farmers• Boers

What’s quite evident from this account of history in 1899, is that no people called Afrikaners are recorded. Not one mention is made of them in the book and yet somehow today the Afrikaners claim to be Boer. The authors have never met or encountered the Afrikaners or acknowledged their role in the formation of the Natal Republic or any of the Boers, who they so fondly and persistently also call “the emigrants”.

These Boers or emigrants are clearly identified as those white people who left the domain of the British colonies and “protectorates” in the search of other lands – away from the colony. Those staying behind are then by default quite content with British rule and identity and therefore cannot claim to be the Boer people. These are naturally the colonials, settlers and Cape Dutch who stayed behind. However, today it is these very Afrikaners who claim to have a right to the Boer identity and heritage – as well as their land.

Cornelia De Wet will return to court this coming week. Over the past two years, she has not had the option of been given a free and fair trial. Due to the fact that she is represented by government attorney's, and has had over eight different legal advisers who have clearly not taken a keen interest in her situation and offered her a decent defense, she needs all our help. Cornelia can be set free and turn this nightmare around with the help of all her friends and family. What Cornelia needs is an independent attorney who will give her a vested interest and perform a defense befitting her situation. Let us all group together and support Cornelia. Let us all fund her defense with a generous donation towards the cost of an attorney. If anybody is interested in continuing with this fund raising, then we can open up a bank account and appoint an attorney. If there is an attorney who is willing to fight the battle of a woman in desperate need of fair justice, then contact us. We need your help and time is not on our side. Thank you for taking the time to read this and if possible please share.

Mr. Commissioner, HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WHITE POLITICAL PRISONERS

With reference to the above please allow me to complain to you about the obvious inequality and discrimination being practiced by the government between black and white prisoners in South Africa. I refer you to the matters of messrs. Shabir Sheik and Jackie Selebi. Both of them were sentenced to long prison sentences but on account of their health conditions both served a very small part of their sentence. Let me hasten to assure you that I do not begrudge the two gentlemen their parole which was granted to them for amongst others, obvious humane reasons.

Although having been assured through the media of the terminal illness of at least one of the gentlemen, quite sometime ago he was still alive and well and still capable to play gholf.

On the other hand Mr. Clive Derby Lewis, a white political prisoner who has served more than twenty years of his sentence, who became eligible for parole and who on account of his terminal illness, applied for medical parole which was refused. Mr. Derby-Lewis is on top of that an old man. He is still being detained. Can we please be informed of the rationale behind all this? Let me also inform you that Mr. Nelson Mandela once wrote that to judge the humaneness of a country, one must look at the treatment of it’s prisoners. He himself was released by his jailers and allowed to continue his political life. The same with the communist, the late Mr. Bram Fischer, who terminally ill, was released and allowed to die outside prison. Why are these white prisoners being treated in this inhumane fashion? Surely it is because they are white. There can not be any other reason for this. The same applies to the members of the Boeremag. Honourable gentlemen who protested the discrimination meted out to white people. Some of them were detained for over 11 years awaiting trial. They were only recently allowed the privilege of receiving contact visits from friends and family.

Sir, in conclusion please allow me to request you to address this obvious iniquity against people who cannot due to circumstances beyond their control, plead their own case.